Page 13 - Demo

[an occasion]
symbols dispensed in the prelude —an obscenity—
she talks like poetry i
feel the croon
in my bones
ocean waves
lapping against the inside of my skin —just like that—
time is persuasive
in isolation
it’s a nuance that reveals itself and so
i always thought of forgetting as a passive experience something that just happens like when you don’t realize you haven’t had a headache until you do again
Katelyn Risch
and i am an amnesiac
rhythm helps recall
so do details
—her beige turtleneck sweater— amidst archived narratives
that only on occasion oat back to the surface
sometimes i successfully assimilate the details into a preexisting life, eeting images
of an invitation in cursive
and a two-bedroom apartment home
before the word “metastasize” was introduced to my vocabulary
i never thought of forgetting as a choice (it’s always been accidental)
i quietly oscillate
between
straining to remember
and
giving myself permission to forget
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